266 %HE COMMON EARWIG, 



I must be permitted to express a wish that females, 

 who but too commonly Jay aside all ideas of tender- 

 ness at the very sight of it, would be convinced that 

 the wax and membranes of the ears are a sufficient 

 defence against all its pretended attacks upon this 

 organ. 



Our gardeners have, it is true, some room for 

 complaint. It lives among flowers, and frequently 

 destroys them ; and, when fruit has been wounded 

 by flies, the Earwigs also generally come in for a 

 share. In the night they may often be seen in ama- 

 zing numbers upon lettuces and other esculent ve- 

 getables, committing those depredations that are of- 

 ten ascribed to snails or slugs. The best mode* 

 therefore, of destroying them seems to be to attend 

 the garden now and then in the night, and to seize 

 them while they are feeding. 



The bowl of a tobacco-pipe, and the claws of 

 lobsters stuck upon sticks that support flowers, are 

 the usual methods rby which they are caught, as, in 

 the day-time, they creep into holes and dark places. 

 Placing hollow reeds behind the twigs of wall-trees 

 is also a good mode, if they be examined and cleared 

 every morning. But at a midnight visit more ma_y 

 be done in an hour than by any of the other means 

 in a week, 



